Dr. Ranjan Datta

Ranjan Datta, PhD. Canada Research Chair II in Community Disaster Research at Indigenous Studies, Department of Humanities, Mount Royal University, Calgary. Alberta, Canada. Previously he was holding Banting Postdoctoral Fellow in the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at University of Regina, Canada. Ranjan’s research interests include advocating for Indigenous environmental sustainability, Indigenous water and energy justice, critical anti-racist climate change resilience, land-based education, and cross-cultural community research. He has a total of 45 peer-reviewed publications on Indigenous land-water and sustainabilities issues, and his recent book, Indigenous Perspectives on Land-Water Management and Sustainability, published with Routledge. His two edited books Reconciliation in Practice: A Cross-cultural Perspectives published with Fernwood Publishing and Indigenous Reconciliation and Decolonization: Responsibility, Social Justice and Community Engagement. London: Routledge. Dr. Datta has developed a strong understanding of Indigenous relational research frameworks in his 15 years conducting research with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Canada, USA, and South Asia, and his current program of research supported by his existing network of Indigenous, visible minority immigrants and refugee, and Black communities, scholars, students, practitioners, and professionals in Canada and beyond. In addition to his experience in North America, he has nearly ten years of community-based research experience in Indigenous environmental justice, social change, and Indigenous well-being with Bangladeshi and Indian Indigenous communities. Working in Bangladesh as a research associate in a non-governmental research organization, he gained extensive professional experience in the fields of community-based research, decolonization, social inequality, developmental politics and globalization, and social justice advocacy. Having been involved with minority and Indigenous youth groups and people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region of Bangladesh, he conducted several research studies on Indigenous land rights, women’s rights, and environmental rights movements, and with numerous opportunities to engage with various government, non-government stakeholders, and CHT Indigenous leaders. In Datta’s community service activities, he has been involved with social well-being and justice movements such as the Idle No More movement, First Nations land rights, community radio, the Indigenous language movement, the Saskatoon Food Bank and Learning Centre, and the Friendship Inn. He served as a board director for several community organizations, including the Calgary Climate Change Hub, Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Open Door Society, Saskatoon Car Share Co-operative, Calgary Climate Change Hub, and CFCR 90.5 Community Radio.